Drove the mini to the Mad Dogs British event at Gilmore Farms today. Let my buddy drive there, (puttered and took our time). Got to the event plenty early and got a good spot. At the end of the day I did the little autocross track a few times. Fun. Drove home nearly flat out through the twisties in the woods. LOVED IT! Got home with not a single issue.

Love the car. Drive it all the time.

Awesome Mark !  I do repairs a little like this too.  Even around the house, I might fix something that's worth only a few bucks, but I know it I fix it, it very well might be better than new. (or at least as good as new)

I find in this day and age, so many people just toss things out !

Good on ya bud!

Good job!!
This is what I've been telling people, there are really things that you can't find in Haynes manual, some fixes requires analysis, common sense and most of all getting out of the box.  Explore, discover and execute.  I know if you have money, it's easy to just buy and pay for labor but it defeats the purpose of this forum, the purpose of a forum is to learn how to DIY to minimize the need to spend., in effect you spend more happy times driving your mini than wasting time fixing it. 
Some people was born to spend money, like for example someone here discouraged me to use truck tire cut out to make a pair of rebound rubber stop, it serves same purpose as the one for sale but since maybe he can't make one, he just resort in buying a pair for 27 bucks.  , not me, I want to fabricate my own parts., I guess there's nothing wrong with that. But I can't blame him, he's into boating hobby now.

Recently I fixed my steering rack. The bushing I had manufactured had slipped out of place (because I neglected to reinstall the set screw). I put it back in place along with the set screw and now my tires are solid and the car drives and tracks perfectly (after an alignment with a 2x4 and a few wrenches).

When I reinstalled the steering rack I inadvertently misaligned the tiny shut off screw that deactivates the turn signal. I inspected the mechanism and realized the tiny deactivation screw was nearly all the way out of the steering rack. I adjusted it in a touch now my turn signals shut off AFTER you make the turn not DURING it.

NO money, just a little effort and knowledge.